Wind Cave National Park

In the morning we took the Wind Cave guided tour. First we saw the natural opening through which the cave was discovered.

The tour was very enjoyable and informative as our guide was an excellent one.

The cave is famous for its boxwork.

It was hard to get good pictures in the dark.

Elk Mountain Campground

We spent our second night at Elk Mountain Campground at Wind Cave National Park. At first glance we were a little disappointed because the sites looked pretty plain. But then we realized we could park with our door facing the forest to enjoy the trees.

For $12 it was a bargain and we were right there for the first tour the next morning. The dogs enjoyed seeing deer right when they got out of the camper. There were three looking at us.

We took the nature walk. First it was into the plains.
Then it was through some forest.

It was all pretty close because the trail pretty much circled around the campground and wasn't very long.

Mammoth Site Hot Springs South Dakota

Our second stop was at Mammoth Site Hot Springs South Dakota. This is a neat little active archeological dig. Well worth a stop if your in the area. The tour is very informative and tells how these mammoths all ended up right here.

Mount Rushmore trip - Glendo State Park Wyoming

This year's big trip was to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. Our first stop was at Glendo State Park in Wyoming. This is a lovely park with many great campgrounds and sites.

We chose one with a water view up on a ridge. They also have sites down at a swim beach or along the water for boat access. We were surrounded by trees and isolated from other campers. There was one site along side ours but it was not occupied.

There was a nice path along the top of the bluff right behind our site..

We all enjoyed walking along it.

We really liked this park. Inexplicably they wanted those staying over night out by 10 a.m. which was too early for us. We'd rather have a bit more time in the morning to explore the park. However it was nice enough that we would definitely stay here again.

TST TPMS 507

When we bought our RV we replaced the tires and added a Truck System Technologies Tire Pressure Monitor System. I bought the 8 sensor 507 model. It has been a real peace of mind saver. We just turn on the monitor before getting started for the day or watch the pressures after we have gotten underway and can see that our tires are in good shape. We have 6 sensors on the tires and two on the front airbags. The front airbags are shown as being on a towed vehicle so I can turn them on and off when were driving as they will cause the system to alarm when we go around corners and such. I love the ease of checking the pressures without having to go around with a pressure checker and risk letting air out of the tires to see how much they have in them.

We have had the system for 2 years and were getting low battery warnings when we installed it this year (we keep it in the basement over the winter). I bought the batteries on-line for a good price. They were tough to install and if it was just me I would have had to hire someone to do it. Also the rubber gaskets to keep the weather out were falling apart so I have to see if I can get more or if our work around of putting teflon tape in there will keep water out.

But in summary I would say these are a must have for any RV owner who doesn't enjoy crawling around in the dirt checking pressure whenever they drive the RV.
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Edit: Just changed the batteries again. Found if you put the rubber o-ring over the wide end it goes on much easier than trying to manipulate it over the internal parts. 3/29/2018

2nd weekend of dewinterizing

We got the water and propane systems tested yesterday. Water heater, furnace, stove and oven all worked fine. Water didn't leak any where (yea!) and pump worked fine. We didn't make any rookie mistakes like we did last year.

The batteries for the tire pressure monitor system sensors were low so we replaced all eight. That took some time. Hopefully they will last more than 2 yrs this time. We do take the sensors off and put them in the basement over the winter.

Mysteriously the only thing that didn't work was the atomic clock with internal and external temp. monitor that we mounted on the dash. It was also stored in the basement (we put everything with batteries in the basement). The clock was OK but no internal or external temp. so will have to get a new one.

It was very nice not to have to consult the manual to see what the switches do. My demystifying the switches labels from last year were enough to get us through.

Took the RV out of storage yesterday

We took the RV out of storage yesterday. Everything looked and more importantly smelled great. No water leaks and very little dust considering we park it in a storage lot all winter. We tried to visit it regularly to make sure we drove it and exercised the generator but there is nothing like taking it out for a new season. We checked alot of the systems and everything was fine.The only big one to go is the water system. Were pretty sure we won't get another freeze but decided to hold of on putting water in the lines just yet. But we did get the tires back to 70 psi and the front airbags to 70 psi so are getting closer to being able to take it out.